Teams, Vine Street, Mission

Sister Winifred Laver MBE (1888-1980), Methodist missionary, instituted the Vine Street Mission in Teams in 1916.Laver was born in Birkenhead. She came to Gateshead at the age of 18 to work with the sick, starving and poor. Lver ran the Vine Stret Mission for 60 years. Families were given breakfast before church, children were taken on trips to the seaside and the Christmas parties accomodated over 1200 people. Sister Laver was awarded an MBE and the Freedom of the Borough of Gateshead. Vine Street no longer exists. It was replaced by Fleming Court and Milling Court in Redheugh. The mission was demolished in 1977. A blue plaque to Sister Laver was erected at nearby Gateshead Evangelical Centre on Derwentwater Road in 2011.